The Tampa Bay Buccaneers look solid at fullback
The Buccaneers plan on using 30-year old Earnest Graham as the fullback this season. He is only 5′9″, 215 pounds but it makes sense for the Bucs to get him onto the field because he’s a good football player. Graham played in 13 games (6 starts) for the Bucs last season and he carried the ball 14 times for 66 yards (4.7 ypc). He also caught 14 passes for 109 yards (7.8 avg) last season. Graham has now played in 79 games (26 starts) in his NFL career and he has carried the ball 420 times for 1,742 yards (4.1 ypc) with 14 TD runs. He has also caught 87 passes for 611 yards (7.0 avg) in his career. I might be in the minority here but I think Graham is the best RB on the Bucs’ roster.
23-year old Chris Pressley has nice size at 5′11″, 257 pounds but I don’t think he’ll get on the field much except in short yardage situations. Pressley played in 7 games (3 starts) for the Bucs as a rookie last season and he carried the ball 1 time for 0 yards (0.0 ypc). He also caught 1 pass for 2 yards last year.
PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE BUCCANEERS FBs in 2010: B
We are talking FB here, right? The first job of a FB is to block and open holes for the RB to run through. His 2d job is to be available to catch a pass in the flat as a dump off receiver. I tend to think Pressley can block better than Graham.
Graham is a much better all around offensive player than Pressley. Pressley might be the better blocker but when Graham is on the field the defense will have to account for him. The Bucs need to have all of the playmakers they can on the field and for that reason I think Graham will play more then Pressley in 2010.